Match.com stats:

Total profile views: 525 ( 59 since yesterday)

New emails: 1 (”falafel” count: 2/11)

New winks: 4

Optimism level: They’re all turkeys.

One of the winks came from the guy on day #2 who emailed me saying my profile was “seductive.” I have to give him points for following up and for replacing his main picture in which he’d worn sunglasses. There’s still no interest, but if he makes 5 or 10 more improvements, I might just browse his profile.

Last night, I added a guy to my favorites list, planning to check him out further this weekend. When I logged on to Match today, his photo was gone, replaced with the ominous message, “This member is no longer available.” No explanation, no forwarding address. It was as if he’d sent a wink to Mrs. Soprano and was sent to that online dating site in the sky. R.I.P. Romantic_Greek-I hope you find the pickings are better wherever you are.

EMAIL #1: The first sentence of this email said: Nice Profile, enjoyed reading all ….. So I scanned the rest. No falafel. Maybe the three dots meant, “enjoyed reading all… the way down to your screen name but I didn’t bother to read past that.” The bulk of his letter consisted of: I also find that email correspondence does become rather pointless, time consuming, impersonal and seems to rarely lead to anything…. and left his phone number (!) requesting me to call him (!) or, if it makes me more comfortable, I could give him my number(!)(!)(!) At a certain point you have to reveal some personal information but introducing yourself and immediately giving out your phone number is just not wise for men or women. I also disagree with his attitude toward email as I think email’s the ideal way to get things started. For me, it’s convenient because I write well, type almost as fast as I speak and hate talking on the phone with strangers. But the advantage to all parties is that you’re never catching somebody at a bad time and you have a chance to edit your thoughts before they reach the other person. That’s why, when someone says something lame in an email, that red flag instantly goes up. It tells me that even when given the opportunity to portray themselves in the best light possible, they still come across as a jackass. This guy wasn’t quite at the jackass level and I really do want to make an effort here, so I checked out his profile. It started out all right then it said:

and no more writing about myself, thank you - Ask me on a date so you can find out for yourself what I am like.

I should ask HIM out? I’m a strong, independent woman but I’m looking for a man to be the MAN. This is one of those situations where the little winking emoticon would have been a good idea, but he gave no indication he was trying to be cute.

After stating “no more writing about myself,” he then filled in the next category with MORE sentences about himself. It wouldn’t be so bad if not for the fact that his sales pitch was under the category, “What’s the last thing you read?” (Apparently, his own profile). Later, he mentioned that he can’t multi-task, which is a quality I know would frustrate me and listed “sarcasm” as a turnoff. Gee, I’m sure he’d love me. Moved to folder: Sorry, wrong number.

Since it’s Thanksgiving, I guess I should thank those who have taken to the time to leave comments. The positive words have been a bit surprising since I sort of expected people to read my blog and say, “No wonder you’re still single.” I guess the ones thinking that just aren’t adding comments. But I appreciate the support and hope to soon share with you stories about the first date, the first sexual encounter and the inevitable break-up. Hopefully they won’t all occur on the same night.